Vanderhoth writes: Last night (October 3) Github developer Jake Boxer disabled the GamerGate github repository containing documents for "Operation Disrespectful Nod". Which contained documents for a letter writing campaign to advertisers for the publishers of the game media articles declaring gamers dead just over a month ago. Here's a link to an image of the removal request for if/when the original tweet is eventually removed.

Jake previously voiced his disapproval for intel pulling ads from Gamasutra claiming: "While we wait for @Intel to correct this, here's @leighalexander's fantastic piece that they pulled ads because of..." along with "@leighalexander so fucking angry that this happened. thank you so much for the writing and work that you do." original tweet, Backup Image for both.

Reddit is also up in arms over a "rogue" employee being allowed to delete repositories that, to my knowledge, don't violate Githubs terms of service.

So what's the/. take on this? Is it ok seeing as Github is a private entity, maybe they don't have to host anything they don't want. Maybe it's time to start migrating my personal repos to other services in case electrical diagramming or web development offends someone.

Vanderhoth writes: I stumbled onto an interesting article on the rise in astroturfing & sockpuppeting , an epidemic that I'm sure everyone here on slashdot is aware of. I personally have noticed a huge increase in the use of astoturfing techniques and sockpuppet accounts especially to over promote bad products and spread FUD about competitors.

I'm interested in hearing what the slashdot community's take is. How do we identify astroturfing and sockpuppets? Can it be done or are they just words to throw at people we disagree with?

Vanderhoth writes: "Today, Microsoft said its advertisers will be able to target users not just on Web search results pages but directly inside Windows Smart Search. David Pann, general manager of Microsoft’s Search Advertising Group, said in an interview that advertisers don’t have to do additional setup to participate. The Smart Search ads will feature a preview of the websites the ad will send people to, as well as click-to-call info and site links, which are additional links under the main result that direct users deeper into a website to the most likely page they might want."

Vanderhoth writes: Two of the major PC vendors (Samsung and Asus) have now released hybrid devices that run Android in tablet mode and Windows 8 in laptop mode. This takes "Windroid" from what looks like a silly experiment and changes it into an earnest attempt to address some of the shortcomings of Windows 8.

Vanderhoth writes: PlayStation 3 users are reporting that firmware update 4.45 has “bricked” their systems, and no amount of rebooting and file restoring have been able to fix the issue....
Sony released this statement about their next steps regarding the firmware update.

“We are aware of reports that the recent PlayStation 3 system software update (version 4.45) has caused the XMB to not display on a small number of PS3 systems. We have temporarily taken 4.45 offline and are investigating the cause of the problem. We will announce when the system update is available for download as soon as possible. We apologise for the inconvenience.”

Vanderhoth writes: I’m currently serving as a new member of a board for a not for profit organization. The board currently has a few other members, and a couple of vacant positions. One of the issues I’ve noticed since joining the board is the method in which they conduct business is very out of date. The member that maintains our web presences (Bob) has developed a system over the last ten years to allow us to store documents, such as agendas and minutes on a website server.

Some of the big issues are:

The system is very disorganized, there are documents from the late 90’s that aren’t relevant, but have to be sifted through to find more current stuff.

Often documents are not where they should be and are difficult to find.

No one except Bob really knows how the system works, and

No one really wants to use the system because of the monster it’s become.

My concern is if Bob decided to leave the organization no one would be able to maintain the existing system and we would be scrambling to put something new in place. I feel, for what we want to do, Google Docs would be an excellent platform for collaborating and sharing documents. The other board members, except Bob, have agreed with me, but are worried that bringing the issues with the existing system may cause offense and ultimately cause Bob to leave. Other than being overly vested in a system he developed, Bob is an important part of our board and a very valuable member.

We’re already having a difficult time finding members to serve on the board so it’s very important that we don’t lose any existing board members. I’m hoping that I can convince the Bob to start supporting some Google docs objects on the site and try to wean him off his existing system to something a bit more manageable and collaborative that can be passed on to new members and maintained easily.

I don’t want this to turn into old dogs and new tricks. I’m not that far behind Bob in years and can appreciate the difficulty of being told it’s time to give in to something more modern. I’m wondering how the situation could be approached tactfully so maybe Bob will see how much easier a new system could be for everyone, including him.

Vanderhoth writes: It appears that Blizzards Always on DRM for Diablo III has not only failed to protect it's users, but it's giving them a major headache and has done little to prevent hackers or piracy.

Vanderhoth writes: The article claims by punishing file sharers young people might be driven away from music all together. Doubtful, but as I recall there have been several incidents with bands that publicly denounced file sharing and called their fans thieves who are still trying to regain their popularity.